Tile flooring.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES P. LAWSHE, OF TRENTON,-N EW JERSEY.

TILE FLOORING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 722,520, dated March10, 1903'. Application filed September 22, 1902- Serial No. 124,400. (NomodeLl To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, CHARLES P. LAWSHE, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Trenton, in the county of Mercer and State of NewJersey, have invented a new and Improved Tile Flooring, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of this invention is to provide a tile flooring which will benoiseless and elastie and which may be placed in position withcomparative ease and readily removed when desired.

To this end the invention consists principally in a tileflooringcomprising a tile of any form or material and a bed for the tileformed of flexible resilient material, this material lying under thetile and having webs lying between the tiles and the tiles being securedto the webbing by cementor by any other means desired. This bed I preferto construct in a number of sections of such size that they may beconveniently handled, and when the fiooring is to be constructed thetiles already placed and securedin the sections of the bedding are laidwith the bedding on the floor. The tile flooring may be secured in placeon the floor by various means; but the preferred construction is toconstruct certain of the tiles with holes therein and to pass fasteningdevices through these holes. The flooring thus constructed not only isnoiseless and elastic, but by constructing the bedding in sections thetile may be applied to places and in connections to which tiling hasheretofore not been applicable.

This specification is an exact description of one example of myinvention, while the claims define the actual scope thereof.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar characters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in both views.

Figure 1 is a plan view showing the tiling, and Fig. 2 is an enlargedsection on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

0. indicates the tiles, and I desire it distinctly understood that thesemay be formed of any desired material and of any desired form withoutafiecting the essential things in my invention.

1) indicates the bed, which should be formed of some flexible andresilient material. Soft l rubberis particularly applicable to thispurpose.

- 0 indicates webs, which rise from the bed and are arranged to extendbetween the tiles in the manner indicated in the drawings. The tiles arehere shown to be square in form, and the webs 0 therefore formrectangular figures on the bed. It is obvious, however, that these Websmay be made in any other form desired, so as to suit the form of thetile.

bed between the webs by cement or by pressing them into the bed. Theexact manner of securing the tiles is not material.

The flooring thus constructed is rendered resilient or yielding to thetread and is comparatively noiseless. Further, the flexible resilientbed yields to the strain imposed on the tiles and does not crack orcrumble as the ocment ordinarily'used.

Fig. 1 illustrates three bed-sections, which I will designate d, d, and01 These sections may be made of any size desired, and they are formedseparately, and each carries its proper number of tiles-independently.In applying the flooring the proper number and size of sections will beprovided, and these will be laid on the floor so as properly to coverthe same. The preferred manner of securing the flooring in place is toform in certain of the tiles openings a, (see Fig. 2,) and through theseopenings a fastening e of any suitable form is passed. This fastening ispreferably a screw, which is driven through the bed I) and into theflooring below. In Fig. 1 these screws e are shown at each corner and inthe cent-er of each of the sections d, d, and d By forming the flooringin sections and providing means for'readily securing them in place theservices of a skilled mechanic are not necessary in placing the floor inposition. This enables me to apply the tile flooring in places to whichtile has heretofore not been applicable. For example, a person desiringto furnish his residence with the improved tile flooring may simply sendthe dimensions of the room to the manufacturer of the tiling and theproper number of sections of proper form may be sent to the customer,who has only to fasten the screws e. in place, and the customer is thusprovided easily with The tiles are adapted to be fastened on the a tileflooring far superior to that laid in cement by the employment of theusual skilled labor.

Various changes in the form, proportions, and minor details of myinvention may be resorted to at will without departing from the spiritand scope thereof. Hence I consider myself entitled to all suchvariations as may lie within the intent of my claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent 1. A floor-covering, comprising a bed of flexibleresilient material, and a number of tiles of hard unyielding materialpermanently fastened in the bed, said bed being capable of being freelyflexed and moved from place to place without dislocating the said tile.

2. A floor-covering, comprising a bed of flexible resilient material,and a number of tiles of hard unyielding material permanently fastenedin the bed, said bed being capable of being freely flexed and moved fromplace to place without dislocating the said tile, and certain of saidtile having openings formed therein to facilitate fastening thefloor-covering in place.

3. A floor-covering, comprising a bed of flexible resilient material,and a number of tiles of hard unyielding material permanently fastenedin the bed, said bed being capable of being freely flexed and moved fromplace to place without dislocating the said tile, and saidfloor-covering having openings extending through it to permit fasteningdevices to be passed through the floor-covering to secure it in place.

4. Afloor-covering,comprisingabed formed of soft rubber, and a number ofhard unyielding tile embedded into and permanently secured to the bed,said bed being capable of flexing freely without dislocating the tile.

5. A floor-covering,comprisingabed formed of soft rubber, and a numberof hard unyielding tile embedded into and permanently secured to thebed, said bed being capable of flexing freely without dislocating thetile, and said floor-covering having openings extending through it topermit the passage of fastening devices to secure the floor-covering inplace.

6. A floor-covering,comprising a bed formed of soft rubber, and a numberof hard unyielding tile embedded into and permanently secured to thebed, said bed being capable of flexing freely without dislocating thetile, and certain of said tile having openings formed therein and thebed having openings matching with said openings in the tile, whereby topermit fastening devices to be extended through the floor-covering tohold it in place.

7. A floor-covering, comprising a bed of flexible resilient material,and a number of tiles of hard unyielding material permanently fastenedin the bed, said bed being capable of being freely flexed and moved fromplace to place without dislocating the said tile, certain of said tilehaving openings formed therein and the said bed having openingsrespectively registering with the openings in the tile to permitfastening devices to be passed through the floor-covering to secure itin place.

8. A floor-covering made up of a number of separate sections secured inplace side by side to form a continuous covering, each sectioncomprising a bed of flexible resilient material, and a number of tileembedded and permanently secured into the bed, said bed being capable offlexing freely without dislocating the tiles.

9. A floor-covering made up of a number of separate sections secured inplace side by side to form a continuous covering, each sectioncomprising a bed of flexible resilient material, and a number of tileembedded and permanently secured into the bed, said bed being capable offlexing freely without dislocating the tiles, certain of the said tilehaving openings extending therethrough and the said bed having openingsregistering with the openings in the tiles, and fastening devicesextended through the tile and bed and secured into the floor to hold thefloor-covering in place.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES P. LAWSHE.

Witnesses E. R. WALKER, STELLA C. RoBsoN.

